Questions raised at Regional Policy Conference

As I entered the Regional Policy Conference room in DeVos Place, a lot of questions were raised by people at my table.

Doug DeVos opened the conference by presenting the main objectives. He introduced Robert Genetski, who presented a dire case for Michigan's future unless it changes course. "Michigan's economic environment is not conducive to serving either manufacturing or service sectors," he said. "The Michigan Business Tax represents a poor process of governance. We need to align Michigan's policies with Michigan's performance."

He said classic economic principles are important to Michigan's future: 1) low taxes 2) free markets 3) protect individual property rights 4) stable currency.

To emphasize his point, he said, "As far back as the Old Testament, God only asked for 10 percent of our income. So if God can only ask for 10 percent, how can our government ask for more?" This got a lot of applause.

He added, "The State of Michigan and its governing officials should be rewarded on the basis of good performance. Some services government performs should not be performed by government at all. Good performing states put limits on taxes and spending."

His other comments:

• Tinkering with the Michigan Business Tax is not a solution. Michigan needs
  to eliminate the new MBT.
• Michigan spends significantly more than other high performing states in two
  major areas: education and health care.
• If you have big problems you need to make big changes.

Basically, Genetski suggested Michigan's problems are too severe to make modest changes. "We need to scrap our current system," he said, "and develop an entirely new system of governance in order to compete."

Lunch speaker Carol Coletta said the No. 1 objective for Grand Rapids is the need to attract talent. She said "place" drives the decision of where people want to live and work. "Creating distinctiveness is important."

John Zwarensteyn, publisher